Adrian Anderson, director of mortgage broker Anderson Harris, said: “The pick-up in first-time buyers, in their highest numbers since the time series began in 2007, is hugely encouraging.

“First-time buyers are the lifeblood of the market and with lenders offering a range of high loan-to-value deals, as well as more innovative products where family members can help offspring onto the ladder, it looks as though this trend will continue.’

“However, it also highlights the higher sums that first time buyers are borrowing to get themselves onto the housing ladder due to the ongoing disparity between house price inflation and wage inflation.”

Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, reckoned the figures demonstrate market resilience.

He said: “Encouragingly, we have noticed a bit of a pick-up in activity over the past few weeks as buyers and sellers seem to be getting on with it as they usually do at this time of year.

“Listings are improving but property must still be very compelling in terms of price, location and presentation – or all three – in order to gain attention from increasingly discerning buyers.”

But Jonathan Sealey, chief executive of Hope Capital, felt the figures were more subdued than expected.

He said: “Remortgages are the only real area of growth in the market with first-time-buyer activity, buoyant at the end of 2016, dropping right off.

“As the government gets closer to triggering Article 50 there will of course be many that want to sit tight to see how the land lies.

“In these situations there are always those that will move to take advantage of a quieter market, so it will be very interesting to see where movement is felt in the next couple of months.

“Affordability is an issue as inflation and continually rising house prices outstrip real wage growth. This is putting more pressure on buyers’ ability to raise adequate deposits. How lenders respond to this will be key.”

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, expected this subdued start to the year to pick up.

He said: “Remortgaging remains hugely popular as borrowers take advantage of rock-bottom rates. Lenders are keen to lend and this appetite shows no signs of diminishing.

“The dip in activity over the winter months explains why January tends to be a relatively quiet month for the mortgage market.

“These numbers should pick up as we move into spring, as this is usually a busier time of the year for the housing market.”